Episode 983: Religious Identities In Literature

Attended a symposium today, which was great. I think David Jasper, who delivered a paper entitled 'Ways of Knowing: The Identity of the Artist and the Mind of God', might be my new academic hero. (Don't ask me who my old one was because I really don't know. Thomas Docherty, maybe?) Was so impressed by his paper, intellectual without being dry and insular, that I went to the Library and borrowed a book he wrote called The Sacred Body. If that impresses as well, he might become the first academic whose books I buy. Well, if they're available in paperback. The rest of the papers were also interesting, but his stood out particularly for its smooth, unhurried delivery. Turns out he's also an ordained Anglican priest. Now I'm just beyond impressed. Also kind of wish I'd had something intelligent to ask him during the symposium. Ah well. Finally got around to uploading a couple of posts to The Cadaverine, took less time than I thought. Definitely had enough time to write the review of Stuart Evers's short story collection tonight, but I'm too tired, and I've got the whole of tomorrow anyway. Also got an acceptance from High Coup Journal, which took two stanzas out of the haiku sequence I sent in. I'm pleased that the associate editor pushed to take all five stanzas, although the submission guidelines do state that they're usually unlikely to take more than a couple from a given submission anyway. There is one pretty long sequence in the issue I'm in, but the narrative flow in that is a lot stronger than in mine, the individual stanzas of which sit perfectly well on their own as they should do. That makes nine poems accepted in less than a week, and also four out of four in terms of places I sent work off to. Don't think I'm going to be able to top this for a while...